Publisher's Summary

To Luca Matthews the dangers of the high mountain peaks are the air upon which he thrives. In the ruthless pursuit of his goals, he would sacrifice anything - even another climber's life. His friends and family know and fear it. So when he sights a virgin peak in the Himalayas that exists on no map, no one is surprised when he becomes obsessed with being the first to scale it.

Together with his climbing partner, Bill Taylor, they set off into a region of Tibet highly restricted by the Chinese. But a freak accident puts one of their team in mortal danger and it is left to a local Tibetan girl to lead them to Geltang, a monastery that has been hidden from the outside world since the Chinese Cultural Revolution, when most of the monasteries were pillaged and burned.

Soon, as the Chinese secret police get wind of them, Luca and Bill find themselves embroiled in an age-old struggle, not for their lives but to protect the precious secret that Geltang hides and the legacy of Tibet itself.

If this book was't narrated by Jonathan Keeble, then this only star will certainly have to disappear. Jonathan Keeble is a great narrator but this book has not done him justice. The story is very hard to follow. I just want to resell this audiobook which I know I would never listen to again (I stopped after I finished one third of it).

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

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Johnstone, United Kingdom

2/08/10

Overall

"The Cloud Maker"

This is a good story - it rolls along at a good pace and on several fronts. Several parts of the story are woven together with a few surprises along the way and it is an adventure with a little bit of culture. Having been in Tibet, I enjoyed the descriptions and understood the Buddhist links in the story but not sure I would have completely understood what was going on at times without this background.
Still, a really good story to listen to - kept me gripped all the way through and made a really long drive pass very quickly. Well read with a great variety of voices coming through.

10 of 10 people found this review helpful

Patrick

Morpeth, United Kingdom

19/04/11

Overall

"Lifeless Prose"

...as opposed to 'Deathless' prose. A profoundly unoriginal (Shangri-La, revisited) and tedious story.
Well read but , that key element, I didn't care about the vividly two-dimensional characters or what happened next. The author telegraphs his plot direction and hams it up with his villains, his 'angry young man' comes across as spoiled and petulant, my will to keep listening seeped away, making quite a mess in the process!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

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